Door assembly with universal hinge reinforcement



Aug. 2, 1966 J. E. HILDUM ETAL DOOR ASSEMBLY WITH UNIVERSAL HINGE REINFORCEMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 20, 1964 MO Tw R )5 w w m m w w KH F T CT T M A A M W Y B 2, 1966 J. E. HILDUM ETAL 3,263,368

DOOR ASSEMBLY WITH UNIVERSAL HINGE REINFORCEMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 20, 1964 JACK EI.NVEBJ 591 ARTHUR S-BEOY/h BY WATTS FISH ER (2; a; AT TORN EYS United States Patent f 3,263,368 DOOR ASSEMBLY WITH UNIVERSAL HINGE REINFORCEMENT Jack E. Hlldum, Mason, and Arthur S. Brown, Girard,

Ohio, assignors to The American Welding & Manufacturing Company Filed May 20, 1964, Ser. No. 368,860 6 Claims. (Cl. 49-382) This invention relates to the art of mountings for door hinges and is particularly concerned with a new reinforcement for such hinges which can be used universally, that is, with either template or non-template hinges and either right or lefthand swing doors.

Heretofore, reinforcements for hinges for single swing doors have been devised for either right or left swing of the door and for either template or non-template hinges but, so far as we know, no single reinforcement has been proposed which could be used under all these conditions. As a result, inventories of reinforcements for each of these purposes had to be maintained. Much investment was tied up in such inventories and considerable space was required for the parts which might be used to better advantage otherwise.

The present invention provides a reinforcement for single swinging doors which be used universally, that is, with template and non-template hinges for right and lefthand swing doors. Thus, this invention makes it possible greatly to reduce the prior necessary inventory of hinge reinforcements.

The present invention will be better understood by those skilled in the art from the following specification and the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded, perspective view of a reinforced hinge embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary, side elevational view, partly in section of a door equipped with the hinge of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical edge elevation of the door and hinge of FIG. 2 with :parts broken away;

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIGURES 5 and 6 are, respectively, side and front elevational views of the plate constituting one of the parts of the reinforcements of FIGS. 1 to 4;

FIG. 7 is a side elevational view of the holder of the reinforcement of FIGS. 1 to 4; and,

FIGS. 8 and 9 are, respectively, side and end views of the hinge filler of FIGS. 1 to 4.

FIGURES 1 to 4 show a single swing metal door 1 equipped with a hinge reinforcement 3 embodying a preferred form of the present invention. As these figures show, the reinforcement 3 is attached to the stile of door 1.

The hinge reinforcement 3 of FIGURES 1 to 4 is shown in some detail in FIGURES 5 to 9. This reinforcement consists of a plate, a holder and a filler. The plate 7 is secured to the door in any suitable manner, for example, as by projection welding. The projections 8 of plate 7 serve as points of initial welding of the reinforcement to the metal stile of the door, as will be understood by those skilled in the art. Plate 7 is provided with three transversely extending, longitudinally spaced, rectangular opening 10. Preferably, this plate has a longitudinally extending depression 12 which encompasses the region of the transverse openings, the depth of the depression being substantially equal to the thickness of a hinge leaf so that when the leaf, filler, holder and plate are assembled on a door, the exposed surface of the hinge leaf will be substantially flush with the edge surface of the door. Prongs 13 may be formed by making U-shaped cuts in the plate 7 and bending the resulting tongues so that they project as prongs 13 from 3,263,368 Patented August 2, 1966 the rear or concealed side of plate 7. If-desired, the holder may be adjustably secured to the plate by means of shoulder screws which extend through the holder in self-locking threaded engagement in the plate.

The holder 15 is flat, is provided with longitudinally extending opening 17 which are longer, measured longitudinally of the holder, than the prongs 13, and which are spaced apart longitudinally so that the prongs 13 may extend therethrough. When the holder 15 is placed in side surface engagement with the plate 7 with the prongs extending through openings 17 and the ends of the prongs are bent over as shown in FIGURE 2, the holder 15 will be held in assembled position relative to the plate 7 and will be adjustable longitudinally for a short distance. The holder 15 is provided with holes 1a to 12a, inclusive, which are preferably threaded (see FIGURES 3 and 7).' These holes lie adjacent to the transverse openings 10 and are arranged :in transversely extending groups and longitudinally extending sets. Each group consists of two pairs of holes positioned on longitudinally spaced transverse lines. Each set of holes consists of three holes positioned on transversely spaced longitudinal lines. One pair of holes in each of the three groups is visible through the openings in the plate in one of its adjusted positions while the other pair of holes in the three groups are visible through those openings when the holder is at its other adjusted position. That is, with the holder in one position, transverse holes 1a to 6a may be seen while none of holes 7a to 12a may be seen. Similarly, when holes 7a to 12a are visible, holes 1a to 6a are not visible.

A filler 17 (FIGS. 8 and 9) in the form of a thin plate with an edge flange 18 and with three transverse, rectangular openings 19 is positioned between plate 7 and a hinge leaf 2t) (FIG. 1)." The openings 19 are large enough to accommodate screws 22 which pass through the leaf 20, filler 17, plate 7 and into holder 15.

When a hinge leaf 20 is to be applied to a right hand swing door, the holder 15 is adjusted to expose holes 1a to 6:1, inclusive, and the hinge leaf is secured in place by securing means, for example by three screws (not shown) which extend through holes 23 or 23a in the hinge leaf, the transverse openings 19 in filler 17, and 10 in plate 7 and are threaded into certain of the threaded holes in holder 15, which are aligned with holes in the hinge leaf. When the hinge is of the non-template type, the screws will extend through holes 23 and be threaded into holes 7a, 10a and 11a; and when the hinge is of the template type, the screws will extend through holes 23a and be threaded into holes 8a, 9a and 12a. Similarly, for a lefthand swing door, holder 15 will be adjusted to expose holes 1a to 601, inclusive. Then if the hinge is of the nontemplate type, the screws will extend through holes 23 and be screwed into holes 2a, 3a and 6a; and when the hinge is of the template type, the screws will extend through holes 23a and be threaded into holes 1a, 4a and 5a.

The holder may be readily adjusted to holes in either of these groups of holes by inserting a pointed tool, as a punch, into an exposed tapped hole of holder 15 or openings in plate 7 as created by prongs 13, and urging the holder in a direction to expose holes in the other group. In FIGURE 1 the holes 23 show the hole arrangement in the leaf of a non-template hinge, the hole which is midway between the end edges of the leaf being closer to the pintle edge than are the other two holes. The holes 23a show the hole arrangement of the leaf of a non-template hinge, the hole which is midway between the end edges of the leaf being farther away from the pintle edge than are the other two holes. The terms template and nontemplate have been used so long in the industry that their derivation is not definitely known.

Thus, it will be seen that by this invention a hinge reinforcement has been provided by means of which a hinge of the template or the non-template type may be attached to a right or lefthand single swing door. In other words, this invention provides a universal mounting with a minimum number of'parts.

Having thus described this invention in such full, clear, concise and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, and having set forth the best mode contemplated of carrying out this invention, we state that the subject matter which we regard as being our invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in what is claimed, it being understood that equivalents or modifications of, or substitutions for, parts of the above specifically described embodiment of the invention may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in what is claimed.

What is claimed is:

1. A universal hinge reinforcement for use with right and lefthand single swing doors and with template and non-template hinge leaves comprising a plate to be attached to a door, and a holder secured in assembled position with the plate for limited longitudinal adjustment relative thereto, said plate having a plurality of longitudinally spaced, transversely extending openings and said holder having a plurality of groups of longitudinally spaced holes, respectively confronting said openings, each group having holes selectively alignable with the longitudinally spaced openings in said plate and with holes in template and non-template hinge leaves.

' 2. A universal reinforcement for non-template and template type hinges for right and lefthand single swing doors, said reinforcement comprising:

(a) a plate adapted to be attached to the stile of a single swing door and having a plurality of longitudinally spaced apart, transverse openings,

(b) a holder in surface-to-surface engagement with said plate and provided with longitudinally extending holes,

(c) spaced prongs projecting from said plate and extending through said longitudinally extending holes in said holder, said holder and plate being held in longitudinally adjustable, assembled relation by engagement of bent ends of said prongs with the side of the holder remote from said plate,

(d) said holder having holes for securing means arranged longitudinally in three groups and transversely in four sets, each group consisting of two pairs of holes arranged on transverse parallel lines and each set consisting of three holes arranged on parallel longitudinal lines, only one pair of holes in each group and only two'of the sets of holes being visible through said transverse openings when the holder is in one longitudinally adjusted position relative to the plate.

3. A reinforced hinge assembly for use with right and lefthand single swing doors and with template and nontemplate hinges comprising:

(a) a reversible hinge leaf, a plate, and a holder positioned in substantial parallelism,

(b) and means maintaining the holder and plate in longitudinally adjusted, assembled relation, said means providing for longitudinal adjustment of the holder relative to the plate,

(c) the leaf having a plurality of longitudinally and transversely spaced holes, and the plate having a plurality of transversely extending longitudinally spaced openings aligned with the holes in the leaf,

((1) the holder having a plurality of groups of longitudinally and transversely spaced holes, each of said groups including two pairs of longitudinally and transversely spaced holes selectively alignable with the openings in the plate and with the holes in the hinge leaf, depending upon Whether the hinge leaf of the template or the non-template type is used with a right or lefthand single swing door.

4. The combination of elements set forth in claim 3 in which means are disposed in aligned holes in the leaf, plate and holder for use in maintaining the said elements in assembled position.

5. The combination of elements set forth in claim 3 in which the holes of the several pairs of holes in the holder are arranged in four longitudinal rows.

6. The combination of elements set forth in claim 3 in which a filler is positioned between the leaf and the plate and is provided with a plurality of transversely extending longitudinally spaced openings aligned with the openings in the plate.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,677,443 5/1954 Kottick 189-46 2,681,245 6/1954 Ackermans 18946 X 2,853,162 9/1958 David et al 189-46 HARRISON R. MOSELEY, Primary Examiner. KENNETH DOWNEY, Examiner. 

1. A UNIVERSAL HINGE REINFORCEMENT FOR USE WITH RIGHT AND LEFTHAND SINGLE SWING DOORS AND WITH TEMPLATE AND NON-TEMPLATE HINGE LEAVES COMPRISING A PLATE TO BE ATTACHED TO A DOOR, AND A HOLDER SECURED IN ASSEMBLED POSITION WITH THE PLATE FOR LIMITED LONGITUDINAL ADJUSTMENT RELATIVE THERETO, SAID PLATE HAVING A PLURALITY OF LONGITUDINALLY SPACED, TRANSVERSELY EXTENDING OPENINGS AND SAID HOLDER HAVING A PLURALITY OF GROUPS OF LONGITUDINALLY SPACED HOLES, RESPECTIVELY CONFRONTING SAID OPENINGS, EACH GROUP HAVING HOLES SELECTIVELY ALIGNABLE WITH THE LONGI- 